In an interview with the Football Show on SiriusXM, Sunderland coach Gus Poyet sounded off on Jozy Altidore’s struggles with the Black Cats this
past season, which saw the USA international score just one goal in 31 Premier League appearances.

“I don’t know if it’s when you feel that you are a main player. I
don’t know if the pace of the game with the national team is different than England," Poyet said, when asked how a player who scored eight goals for the USA in 2013 could see his goalscoring
form drop off so precipitously the next year. "I don’t, I don’t know. Something is, of course, not working for us with Jozy.”

That being said, the Uruguayan tactician said
Altidore contributed to the team’s season and that he wasn’t concerned about his future. “Every game he came on, he gave us a hand – at Stamford Bridge is an example. He was
always trying his best," Poyet said. "Unfortunately, the goals didn’t come for him. But I am relaxed because if you see the power he’s got, if you see the shot – he can shoot, I can
tell you that, because I see him every day. It’s just that momentum, that click that is going to be for him so important.”

He added: “But I’m quite relaxed with Jozy,
to be honest. I’m one of the few. I know it’s difficult for a striker when he doesn’t score, but I like him. I like him. I like him as a boy and I like him as a player. He just
couldn’t find the net. Sometimes it happens. You change clubs, and you cannot do it at one club for whatever reason.”